Finally, the NBA might actually have 30 active head coaches soon. Or soonish. Or maybe not soon at all.But at least we’re progressing.The 76ers – the last team to hire a head coach – have taken another step, though they’re still moving at a snail’s pace.

Adrian Wojnarowski ✔ @WojYahooNBA
Philadelphia has offered its head coaching job to Spurs assistant Brett Brown and the sides are discussing contract, league sources tell Y!

At this rate, Philadelphia will hire Brown in another week or two, but now, I’d be surprised if a deal is not reached.

Brown has never been an NBA head coach before (though he held the top job in the Australian National Basketball League), and although he’s in line to become the Spurs’ lead assistant now that Mike Budenholzer has left for the Hawks, this would be a difficult chance to pass up for Brown. It’s tough to see terms of the contract outweighing the potentially once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

At this point, Gregg Popovich must be working hard to revamp a coaching staff that has consistently been among the NBA’s best.

Marc Stein: Word in coaching circles is some Brett Brown associates urging him not to take Philly job in part because Year 1 is guaranteed 60+ losses. To pass on Philly, Brett Brown must be sure he can get another head coach gig. Of course, hot as Pop disciples are these days, he likely can. But let's see. Let's see if Sixers put enough on table to get Brett Brown to leave Spurs. Michael Curry for a year remains Philly fallback. Twitter @ESPNSteinLine

Marc Stein: Word in coaching circles is some Brett Brown associates urging him not to take Philly job in part because Year 1 is guaranteed 60+ losses. To pass on Philly, Brett Brown must be sure he can get another head coach gig. Of course, hot as Pop disciples are these days, he likely can. But let's see. Let's see if Sixers put enough on table to get Brett Brown to leave Spurs. Michael Curry for a year remains Philly fallback. Twitter @ESPNSteinLine

The Philadelphia 76ers took a long, convoluted route to finding the man they wanted to replace former head coach Doug Collins. The man they selected might not take the job however, as ESPN’s Marc Stein reports that San Antonio Spurs assistant Brett Brown is being urged to pass on the Sixers’ offer.

Turning down a head coaching job would be a big decision for an assistant that wasn’t even the top guy on his own staff — that honor goes to new Atlanta Hawks head coach Mike Budenholzer — but it could pay off for him in the long run.

The Sixers aren’t expected to be competitive in their first season under new general manager Sam Hinkie and are widely considered the favorites for a top pick in next year’s loaded NBA Draft. If Brown endures a sixty-loss season, the first-year head coach would be starting his stateside career in quite the hole and without much to add to his resume if he’s canned for a higher-profile coach next season. That could Brown in the company of a guy like Mike Dunlap, who coached an already bad Charlotte Bobcats team to a 21-61 record last season before being replaced after just one year on the job. Kevin O’Neill, Sam Vincent, Quinn Buckner, Jeff Bower, Johnny McCarthy, John Wetzel, Leonard Hamilton and fellow candidate Michael Curry were also canned after their first season as an NBA head coach — and none of them have been able to get another head job since.

If the Sixers aren’t going to give Brown enough money and job security to prove that they want him for the long haul — and not just as a cheap bandaid while they rebuild their roster — it likely isn’t going to be worth his time when considering he should have more opportunities next summer. Because, if Philadelphia decides they don’t want to commit to a long-term deal with Brown this season, what’s stopping the Australian native from waiting and applying for the job next summer … when the team’s prospects are better and he’s got a year of top experience under Gregg Popovich in San Antonio?

It’s an interesting spot for both sides: the Sixers don’t necessarily want to win this year and likely aren’t interested in committing too much to a head coach that they want to lose in his first season. But, if they really think a guy like Brown is their coach of the future, they’ll have to open their pocketbooks to make sure the risk of starting off really bad doesn’t scare him away.

Marc Stein: Word in coaching circles is some Brett Brown associates urging him not to take Philly job in part because Year 1 is guaranteed 60+ losses. To pass on Philly, Brett Brown must be sure he can get another head coach gig. Of course, hot as Pop disciples are these days, he likely can. But let's see. Let's see if Sixers put enough on table to get Brett Brown to leave Spurs. Michael Curry for a year remains Philly fallback. Twitter @ESPNSteinLine

Don't think there's a coach in the world who doesn't believe they can make a difference and can do better than the pessimists think they can.

The only thing that could stop him from taking this job would be if they try to do it on the cheap and sign him for less than market value.

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